The Incredible Pictures Aren’t Just Photographs

One might be forgiven for thinking these incredible pictures are photographs.
But they are in fact the work of a British artist who paints street scenes that look like the real thing.

Darren Reid has only been painting for three years, but in that time he has managed to create these intricate pieces of artwork of life in his home town of Derby in the East Midlands.

And in print, or even in front of your eyes, it is difficult to spot the difference between the paintings and what might be a photograph.

His style is known as contemporary realism and surprisingly, the 44-year-old is completely self-taught.
Now his paintings are being snapped up by art collectors for four-figure sums – almost before the paint is dry on the canvas – after he was shortlisted for this year’s John Ruskin Prize.

The artist says he only turned his hand to painting after his dog, a cross-collie called Tubs, fell ill in 2011 and he spent hours at home nursing him.

He said: ‘I was always good at art at school but when I left at 15 it wasn’t something I looked to pursue directly. Instead, I became involved in making signs.

‘I never yearned to be able to paint in the intervening years and I don’t think I’d have been ready to do the art I’m now doing 20 years ago.’

The first painting that Mr Reid tackled was of former cotton mill, Darley Abbey Mills in Derby – a building with which he is very familiar with – choosing to specifically feature the fire escape.

He said: ‘I capture the scene I intend to paint by taking a photograph initially.
But then it is down to me to adjust the scene as I see fit.

‘For example, the John Ruskin entry is of St Peter’s Street in Derby but people looking at it will realise the street is narrower than it would be in reality.

‘And in Crossing The Tracks, which is a view looking across Derby’s railway station, the angles are altered. Daily Mail